Alternative perspectives, optimism, critique,friendship, family, materialism that empowers thinking and caring for the next day, week, month or year.
It is what we do with time and money.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Cheong

Wednesday, 11 July 2012

The strange thing about dining is LOCATION. Anyway, this is a great place to eat..and is just always crowded with local and european customers. it's a western style dining place. And most expats will feel at home here.

I like to eat at this place, because it is intimate yet informal. Service can be slightly slow.

Dolly and I dine together often. I think it is a good way, maybe the best way, to bond..especially when I am married to Dolly, who happens to be a great cook..and a refined gourmet. She has an excellent, and totally refined taste and nose. One of the best, as we discovered 25 years ago, when we were new to wine, and we were on tour at several yards in both the famous french areas as well as the then developing australian regions.

I can recall that back then in 1983 to 87, drinking wine was not as popular here..and I could find/buy a bottle of Chateau Lafitte at Harrods London 1982 for exactly $365 sgd!!! Crazy?

But never get the idea that I am just a rich guy who spends money any old how.

You will be amazed that I am going to buy the Nissan Juke turbo..and keep the 911 at home.

The juke captured my heart, because of..well, the next post.

This post is something special for me..I love my wife.

And funny thing about guys..we always feel uncomfortable saying this.

But make no mistake, although you always see me posting pics of pretty girls..Dolly is the ONLY person I love. Always.

Because she has been able to understand and tolerate me, and she loves me, which is something I want to share with young people...no marriage is perfect...but ours is one example where my wife has been giving way to me, and learning to accomodate my VERY eccentric ways.

CAD design, Swiss steel, silicium, have watchmaking precision in common.
Junod, who works near St Croix, would be very familiar with the "prosthetic head" I posted earlier this week.

But, in 2007, I had a man who lost his lower limb to a road accident. The good doctors at the hospital put him together again.

But here are some tidbits for watch lovers:

The prosthetic knee function differently than any other joint.

Above knee prostheses mimic the functions of the quadriceps in activity. The specialized shock system/control unit makes the XT9 (for example) an 'energy storing' prosthetic knee, the CAD design is similar to how a minute repeater's reloading/transfer mechanism works.

As the pressure is applied to the limb, the knee bends, compressing over 400-550+ pounds of progressive energy in the coil spring and air shock absorbers combined. This tension, combined with adjustable hydraulic damping, acts supportively as the quadriceps would. The knee is allowed to bend until it comes to a rest against the titanium hard stops, at which point the energy that has been built up and stored, is released.

It is a minute repeater's striker, but in a huge size.

It's true for those Marines who are learning how to adapt and overcome the loss of a limb—or limbs.

Others, that are still in research and development, contain computer microprocessors, see how Tread 1 fits in here.

Bluetooth technology and batteries to help produce the energy.
The socket—the piece that connects the Marine with his artificial limb, is the key.

You can have the most sophisticated prosthesis, but if it doesn’t fit, it’s worthless.

You have to shape the [socket], feel the limb; that’s what makes or breaks the patient’s ability to walk. This is truly an art. That's where the doctor's work.

The $4.4 million C5 facility opened in 2006 and provides the latest treatments and prosthetic devices for amputees to get back on their new feet. It has grown from 30 beds to about 100 since it opened.

Private companies are invested in this as well. You can guess.

But don't think that they’re making money, right now, they’re not.

A company will spend $10 million on r and d! But they’re not selling $10 million in product. This is a very small market. So, well, in a way, you get to buy a a few hundred watches worth ten million dollars. Chuckles...now you don't feel so bad.

This is, for example, the "ort23"...a steel joint..better than 316 or any Rolex steel of 306 etc.

Improvements are continually being made in materials used for hip implants. For instance:

Polyethylene durability has been improved through “crosslinking”.

This hip joint used to be (1) metal on plastic, (2) metal on metal , (3) metal on ceramic and now metal on highly crosslinked polyethylene.

See:

So..there is a use for those so called useless Richard Mille plastics, made to sound cool by linking them to racing cars.

This is what "some" use of R&D into materials for those Hublots and RM go to...although watchmakers do get greedy, after all, the watch is OUTSIDE the body, and has no need for medical approvals.

The world of watch collecting has indeed financed a GREAT deal of research that is useful here.

Especially in wear and tear...because inside the body, we cannot lubricate the part. Now you sort of get the picture of why the interest in non lubricated parts were back in 2005?

I always think of these things when I look at the Freak, and at the RM002, the steel cases of the SEIKO Galante, all so special, but to me, these joints are way cooler!

My 2 daughters, are also equally messy...but have remarkable good taste..as in food, clothes, wines, cars...all without my or wife's direct influence.

My wife, Dolly, has great taste, although she came from an extremely humble/poor family.

She attended a good school in a small town. Kuantan, Malysia.

She worked for Ernst & Whinney (the old name of E& Y).

I think she got her tastes from Jen Shek Voon. Her boss.

I know I got my taste from my mum and dad, and because of envy of my classmates in ACS.

That's the good thing about going to an elite school of rich kids, back then in the 1960s.

Today, it would generate a delinquent!

Well..I am a sort of misfit. Although if you google me, it "may seem" that I am a society guy...and I know practically 10% of Hollywood...but I am really an ordinary guy with BAD table manners, and I wear track shoes to work 7 days a weeek...but I wear a suit in my office...out of habit and comfort. I know many doctors do not even like to wear a tie.

Rolex discontinued the Rolex Tridor Day-Date years ago but I remember that when it came out many people touted it as the Supreme Day-Date.

It is interesting because it looks like a Presidential bracelet mixed with a Jubilee bracelet.

But Rolex and some brands have been creating, with my observations, a culture where the customer serves the company(that sells).

ie You get to buy a Rolex because Rolex decides that you are fit to be one of their 850,000 customers per annum.

Strange. I have been KNOWN to say alot of bad things about Rolex, but I still buy their watches, because I believed that they are good.

UNTIL...now, if you treat us consumers like shit, make sure you NEVER sell any shit.

Look at this Tridor. It belongs to me. This is NOT a second hand story.

Basically, this BRAND NEW Rolex bought some 8 years ago..simply fell aprt and dropped off my wrist.

Why on earth?!?

Because the LINK on the Tridor is both glued and lasered with minimal contact area...look at the pictures.

NO screw or pin!!!

If one tugged at the Rolex, it will split apart!

Well, no one has said anything...maybe I am the ONLY one.

BUT...hear this second part...and it is NO surprise.

When I go to the Rolex Centre...they said..they don't make this Tridor anymore, so they don't fix it!!!

The policy of NOT fixing any Rolex that is more than 4 years old is still urban legend or what?

Anyway, short of not blogging about it, for 6 months, to allow them to do damage control, I am now releasing the NEWS.

How can a company that prides itself on engineering even MAKE a bracelet of THIS design???

How can one depend on glue to hold less than 2mm square of gold to gold surface????

So...as usual, Rolex answers to NO ONE.

And that is a sort of cool marketting strategy.

They are ABOVE service. YOU serve Rolex.

NOT the other way around.

That's GREATNESS.

Well...I will still buy Rolex.

But I think they should have better service attitudes, and admit mistakes.

This is a TOP END watch, bought by me...not a second hand watch, and I wonder if today, the submariners and etc etc are held together this way?!?!?!

I would be more than happy to apologise IF I have misrepresented anything, but as a known collector, I am speaking up for the common man in the street, many aspire to own just a Rolex.

It is their life savings.

Why not treat them with some courtesy? Errr...in Singapore..don't even bother to deny this. If you are a Rolex owner, and your watch is old..say about 5 years...have you experienced their "service"?

The people at Panerai, Patek, Lange, IWC, etc etc...all bend over to serve, as watches like these are not cheap, and service is all a part of it....even at Rolls Royce, Krell, Porsche, Lambo, hey...I am speaking as a customer.

But Rolex??? They have always been an aloof bunch...of sales people, who believe they are socially the equivalent of a surgeon/minister. Strange..maybe it is all an act.

Let me know.

I have no idea if Rolex is servicing customers in other parts of the world.

The old, some 7 years or more..Seiko Master Marine 300 is a monocoque front loaded case wristwatch of exceptional build and finish.

Understood, and appreciated only by the confident, as it costs close to a Tudor/Rolex/Omega..this watch has a large following.

It speaks well for the mind set of collectors, as it means there are people who buy really GOOD watches, and not just for security/social position.

Anyway, here I am just posting up pics I took 30 mins ago...with the Buchwald lamps, beautiful in an orange glow.

Surrounding ourselves and our kids with things beautiful, honest and made with integrity imbibes these qualities into them....it takes away sarcasm and makes them see the good in people. I believe in that.

This makes it unfair, to those who have not the same chance. But it illustrates a truth about wealth, and how we use it, treat others, and share.